Five on Friday

Since I missed 10 on Tuesday and I'm still busy and kind of all over the place we're doing this bullet style today:

1. I watched two documentaries last weekend - Miss Representation and It's a Girl.  Both were excellent and opened my eyes to how alive and well sexism still is.  I could do a whole post on my thoughts about these...you should for sure watch them! If you do, message me because I'd love to discuss!

2. This week I sent an email to my coworkers letting them know about my Kenya trip and inviting them to donate to my Freedom Campaign.  I really did not want to send this email.  I thought it might be inappropriate for work, I hate asking for money, and I didn't want anyone to be annoyed with me.  But I felt God pushing me to.  Well guess what?  People donated!  Like $100 each!  I was so surprised, overwhelmed and encouraged!  You can learn more about my trip and donate here: www.stayclassy.com/ncsuz

3. I got a new job!  I am still with Lenovo, but I am moving to the marketing department for the channel team.  It was a tough decision, but I think this is a good opportunity.  I have so many mixed emotions about it though- sad, excited, nervous, anxious, relieved, stressed!  Any tips for getting through those first few weeks at a new job?

4. I'm not sure if we are just a test market for this or not...but have you tried the frosted lemonade at Chic-fil-a?!  OMG it is amazing!  I saw the sign for it throughout the summer but didn't give it a try until last night and wow! I've been missing out!  I wish we were also a test market for the new breakfast items...chicken and waffles?  yes please!

5. I'm going to Harry Potter world in a few weeks!  It was very last minute.  I had an airline credit I had to use before the end of October and luckily one of my friends was able to go and found us an awesome deal on a hotel.  I can't wait!

Hope you guys have a fabulous long weekend!!

I want to travel

Would you not LOVE to do something like this?? I wish I had unlimited time and money and could just travel. Anywhere and everywhere. Of course having a great travel buddy would be a must too!

Things to do in Dubai

We did manage to fit in some fun stuff while we were in Dubai. If you ever visit, here are some things to check out:

- Burj Khalifa- world's tallest building. I couldn't even get it all in a picture it was so tall! We went up to the observation deck on the 125th floor. I think it is over 200 stories total. It was very modern and pretty, but for some reason it didn't seem that high because all the other buildings are so high too! The observation deck is called At The Top and the entrance to go up is inside the Dubai Mall on one of the lower levels.

- Dubai Mall- world's biggest mall. It is apparently the size of 50 football fields?! It was really nice. Tons of stores including lots of designer stores like Versace, Fendi, etc. I went in Jimmy Choo and tried on a pair of nice heels just to feel what it was like to have on a pair of Jimmy Choos. They also had a lot of the same stores we have in America like Forever 21, sephora, H & M , etc. (Do they were those kind of clothes under those black robes?? I would love to know!) They also had an indoor ice skating rink, movies, a huge arcade, a huge aquarium, and lots of very cool/interesting sculptures/design elements in this mall. There was also a section called The Gold Souk and a souk across this small pedestrian bridge called Souk Al Bahar, but they both were way too nice and fancy to feel like a souk and the stores just felt expensive. It was pretty though.

- Dubai Fountains- right outside the Dubai Mall. This is like the dancing fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas, but I think this one is bigger. We watched one of the daytime shows and one of the nighttime shows. They were nice, but I still like the Bellagio show better. I think the way these fountains were laid out and our viewing point made it not as pretty as when I saw the Bellagio one.

- We also went to the Sahara Center in Sharjah (not as nice as the other malls but they had an indoor roller coaster- I didn't ride it, but some in my group did) We ate at the food court here a couple times throughout the week because food courts were way cheaper than the hotel. They are pretty much like US food courts- Mcdonalds, Chinese, pizza, KFC, Subway, etc. The Mcdonalds even had a McArabia (basically a pita sandwich). They also had a grocery store downstairs which was nice for stocking up on bottled water and soda. We called the Sharja Center the "Northgate of Dubai". Northgate is a not so nice mall in Durham, NC. It isn't as bad as that at all, but compared to all those other grandiose malls it wasn't as nice.

-Mirdif City Center-another mall! On "singles night" we went as a group to this mall for indoor skydiving. Some in our group did it, but I didn't. I wanted to save my money to buy gifts at the souk! It looked pretty cool though. They also had a bowling alley, indoor soccer, and this challenge course/rock climbing wall in this mall. P.S. when you see "City Center" don't automatically think that is the same mall you went to the night before. There are many different "City Centers" I swear I have never seen so many malls in all my life!

-The Blue Souk- I don't know if this was the official name of the place, but that is what everyone called it because it was blue. It was the only real souk we got to visit unfortunately. It was in Sharjah and was the most "ethnic" thing we did while we were there. It wasn't like a traditional "market" because it was indoors, but it was little shops where you bargain the prices. They had gold, carpets, jewelry, souvenirs, and lots of scarf/pashmina stores. I was a sucker for the pashminas and bought a lot for gifts for people. I definitely worked on my bargaining skills here.

-Eye of the Emirates- it is like the London Eye. It was this beautiful huge ferris wheel. The best part was each "cabin" was air conditioned! It gave a great view of the city! The most interesting part about the ride was the people in the one behind us got a "talking to" for sitting beside each other and him having with his arm around her. Public displays of affection are not allowed. They were a young Arab couple and didn't appear to be married. All I know is they moved to opposite sides of the cabin after their talking to! They also have a thing where you can take a water tour here. I wish I had done this, but my group didn't. Another group did and said it was cheap and totally worth it. It takes you around the marina and past the Shiek's house apparently. They also have lots of restaurants, Cariboo Coffee, Dunkin Doughnuts, and a yummy gelato place here.

-Wald Wadi- a huge waterpark that was really fun...I am going to write more about it in a later post. We got great views of that 7 star hotel- Burj Al Arab- from here too (the famous one shaped like a sailboat) because it was right next door.

-Mall of the Emirates- we went here right after the waterpark to get dinner. We got to see the indoor skiing here. I think the skiing was 200 Dirhams (or about $60). Some people did it, but I saved my money. If you do go to do the indoor skiing bring gloves. They give you everything but gloves, and the people who did it said their hands were so cold! I really don't remember much else about this mall. By that point I was really getting sick of malls.

- We went and ate at a traditional Arab restaurant one night. It was REALLY good. They had the best hummus ever with pita bread, a delicious salad, pickled vegetables, and I had the Shawarma. It is this chicken on the huge skewers that they wrap us and grill in a flat bread. It comes with some kind of white sauce that I can't even describe. But it was really good. I also had fresh strawberry juice here. Fresh juices are really big over there and really good!

- Ibn Batutta Mall- we went to this mall the day we were set to leave because we had to check out of the hotel but our flight wasn't until midnight. Seriously, another mall? I don't even want to know how many malls they have there! This one was cool though because it was based on the explorations of this famous explorer- Ibn Batutta- and each section had a big display and decorations based on the country- China, Persia, India, Egypt, etc.

We did not get to see any of those man made islands (the palm tree or the world) but I wonder if you would even be able to tell what it was from the ground? If I would have had a window seat, I would have looked for it from the plane, but oh well! The internet pictures are probably better.

Other tourist tips I have:

Girls wear long pants, skirts, or dresses (capris are ok) and cover your shoulders. The one day I wore a knee length short sleeve dress I would've given anything for a pair of pants or something because I felt out of place. Also take a nice bag and sunglasses and sandals (I wouldn't wear tennis shoes...everyone wears sandals or flip flops). You want to make sure they are nice though or else you will feel out of place in all those fancy malls.

Don't plan on walking anywhere. It is too hot. We walked from the Dubai Mall stop on the metro to the Mall about 4-6 blocks away and we were drenched in sweat. The metro is really nice and there are cabs everywhere for a good price. Plus your feet will already be hurting from walking around those huge malls all day!

Keep a currency converter card with you. It is easy to think prices are high when you see something for 100+ Dirhams, but you have to remember that is only about $27-$28. It is easy to get confused when you are trying to convert it in your head, so it is nice to have something that says 5 dirhams= $xx, 10= $xx, 25= $xx and so on.

Take a outlet adapter/voltage converter with you. I got one at Target for $20 that was a combo adapter/converter and it was perfectly labeled and easy to use and everything I tried with it worked perfectly.

They have a different sense of time than us. I don't think things open early, more like 10 am. From 1pm-4pm some things will close (like the Blue Souk) for lunch/nap time (how nice!!) But things stay open late- at least until 11 pm. And remember their weekend is Friday and Saturday.

Get bottled water and soda from the grocery store. It is so much cheaper! Red Bull was cheaper too- like $3 for a 4 pack. Sodas and water were less than a dollar and packs of them were pretty cheap too. They only drink bottled water there and if you buy it at the restaurant or hotel it will be much more, so stock up at a grocery store and carry it with you.

Don't let the weather scare you. Yes, it is hot, but most everything is inside and if you are in a hotel's cooled pool (or the cooled water at Wild Wadi) it is very nice. I wore SPF 50 and didn't get any sun. On the last 2 days I even spent an hour or so at the pool without SPF and I was fine.

I highly recommend a trip to Dubai. It is very exotic and beautiful. And just observing the people is fascinating!

International Traveler- Dubai!

Dubai was amazing!  I am so fascinated by the UAE now.  The people were so pretty and mysterious and the culture and sights and sounds were so interesting.  My first trip abroad has left me wanting more!

The long flight wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting.  We had about an hour or so hop over to Washington DC and then it was about 14 hours or so to Dubai from there. I was able to fall asleep for about 3-4 hours with the help of my Ambien.  I also watched 2 movies, so it really didn't seem like much downtime.

I was even in the middle seat in the middle row!  There were 2 seats, an aisle, 5 seats, another aisle and then 2 more seats.  The plane was huge and packed!  I was in the very middle seat of that middle row so I had to ask 2 people to move every time I got up.  (I only got up once because of this!)  I was freaking out about being trapped in the middle at first but it really wasn't that bad.  I think it was because everyone on my row was a part of my team and not strangers.

Airplane food sucks though.  I didn't really like anything we got, but I ate some of it anyway because I was starving.  We were served a meal when we first got on the plane (pasta) and one a few hours before we landed (I can't remember what that one was but it sucked too.)

First off Dubai was hot.  Really hot.  It felt like walking in to an oven every time you opened a door to go outside.  And it was NOT a dry heat.  It was VERY humid.  My sunglasses and camera lens practically stayed foggy when we were outside.

I didn't exchange any money when we got there.  Instead I just pulled some out of the ATM with my debit card.  I had called both my banks to let them know I was going to be over there so they wouldn't freeze my account.  They charge about a 3% international fee every time you use your card, but I still think it was better than exchanging money.  Their money is called Dirhams (kind of pronounced like Durham- a city right beside Raleigh which I thought was ironic).  One thing I loved was that you mostly used paper.  There was no tax and everything was rounded up.  Sometimes you would get change (called Phils) but not often.  The exchange rate was about 3.67 Dirhams to every dollar.  The cost for things was about the same as the US for the most part, except some stores you could find things really cheap.  Designer stores seemed to be cheaper than US prices.

Dubai was so different but really similar to the US at the same time.  There are so many different cultures there.  Almost everyone we talked to wasn't from there originally.  Most were from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Yemen, Lebanon, or India.  But we did not talk to anyone in the traditional Arab dress (white robes/headdress for the men, all black for the women).  They don't talk, smile, or even really look at you.  But they look so elegant and mysterious!  I was fascinated by them!

There were some Europeans and Japanese/Chinese vacation, but we didn't see any other Americans really.  We definitely stood out.  One night when we all went out to dinner, the whole restaurant staff took a picture with us because we were the most Americans they had ever seen.

Oh and I am not sure who it is, but some people group over there does not believe in deodorant.  I would catch whiffs of the worst body odor ever at random times.  Also the Russian men in speedos at our hotel were pretty gross.  And in every public bathroom there were these spray faucets beside the toilets and drains in the floor and most of the time the floor was wet.  I don't know if they were taking showers in there or what but it was pretty gross.

Overall though the city was really clean and modern, but everything was concrete high rise buildings and roads.  No green.  A few patches of sand for parking lots here and there.  Everything was really opulent and you could tell A LOT of money was put in to that city!

For transportation we took the hotel shuttle bus a few times.  They packed us in there.  They even had these pop down seats that folded down in the middle of the aisle and every single seat was filled.  We also took a lot of taxis.  The taxis scared the crap out of me.  They drive really fast and kind of crazy, but you start to get used to it.  The roads have like no traffic lights.  There were a few, but mostly every intersection was just a round-about you had to merge on to.  We also took the metro a few times.  It was the nicest, cleanest metro I had ever seen!

We stayed at a resort right on the Persian Gulf in the next city over (Sharjah) which was really pretty but the water was so hot, I did not swim in it.  It was like the temperature of a jacuzzi and not refreshing at all.  I mostly stayed in the pool if we were outside (the water was cooled).  It was too hot and humid to be outside though. You would be sweating within 5 minutes even at nighttime.

Internet in our hotel sucked.  Think back to dial up speed about 15 years ago.  We each paid $50 per room for Wifi that hardly ever worked.  I think I was able to send about 5 emails last week in total and they were all really short!  I'm not sure if this was just something with our hotel or all over Dubai.

The most interesting part of the UAE was the people though.  They were so beautiful and mysterious.  The men all looked like kings with their robes and headdresses and the women looked like mysterious queens hiding beneath their black robes called abayas. ( Although someone said they looked like dementors.)  Some would show just their eyes and have the most beautiful eye make-up on.  Some would show their whole face.  Some would cover their entire face and even wear their glasses on the outside of their scarf and black gloves so you could not see any part of them.  Some had plain robes.  Some had beautiful bling on their robes.  Most of them had really nice shoes and designer bags and sunglasses.  I said that would the perfect outfit for me because I love splurging on handbags but not so much on clothes!

I often wondered when I saw one man with more than one woman.  Were those all his wives, or were those daughters?  Also sometimes you would see an Asian woman walking behind a couple with the kids, and someone said they were basically like the family's slave.

I wondered what these people were like in their homes.  What did the women wear?  Did they laugh and talk?  What did their home look like?  Did the men wear their headdress even at home?

You can also tell they are concerned with status.  The men wore really nice sunglasses and I already told you about the women.  They also drive really fancy cars.  We saw a lot of luxury cars there.  Someone also told me their license plates show status.  Regular people have 5 numbers and the fewer numbers you have, the closer in relation to the Sheik you are.

I seriously can not expressed how fascinated I am by this place!  I ordered a book yesterday to learn more about the mysterious rich city:

I also brought back a little bit of their culture with me in the many headscarves I bought. Here is my roommate from the trip modeling one of hers at one of the many stores we went to at the Blue Souk:

And my henna:

This has spurred more random conversations with strangers than I ever thought!  It is already starting to fade after just a week, but they said it could last up to 2-3 weeks!
A lady came to the hotel and did it for us one day.  She did the whole thing freehand!  It is this paste stuff she squeezes out of a tube kind of like a cake icing bag with a pointy tip on the end.  You leave the paste on until it dries and starts to flake off (I left mine on for about an hour or 2 because supposedly the longer you leave it on, the longer it lasts.)  Then it is bright orange in color and darkens to a brown color.  The color and how long it lasts depends on your skin.  I noticed a lot of the women in abayas had henna on their hands there.  One even told my roommate in a mall to put Vaseline on hers (the one and only time one of them talked to any of us!).

The security on the way back in to the States was tight!  They scan your bags before you even get to the gate to check them.  Then they check your passport and ask you questions about your trip and your bags before they let you check in.  Then they check your passport again and stamp it before you can go to the gate.  Then at the gate they checked our passports again, pulled me into a room and patted my down completely- I mean everywhere!  Opened up all my carry on items and went through all my stuff by hand and then finally let me on the plane.  Then when we got to DC we had to go through customs which took forever!  They check your passport then you have to get your bags and re-check them and then go through the scanner for your carry on.  It was much different than flying just in the US.

The food on our flight sucked again.  We had a vegetarian rice dish when we got on and then a breakfast that consisted of runny eggs, soggy potato wedges, and jalapeno poppers (for breakfast!?)  Our flight landed in the US a little after 6 am and luckily I was able to get Starbucks after we made it through customs and security before the short flight back to Raleigh.

I was glad to get home and Cam & Bailey were so excited to see me!  I missed them so much!  I managed to stay up all day Sunday until about 8:30pm.  But I have been exhausted ever since then and have fallen asleep early every night!

I know this was long, but I have so much more to tell you!  I want to tell you about how I saw God working on this trip and about all my kids in our preschool class!  They were so cute!  I also want to tell you about all the touristy things we did there!  So stay tuned for more later this week!